Door structure.



. PATENTED SEPT. 17, 1 907.

.V. A. DE GANIO.

DOOR STRUCTURE.

APPLIUATION FILED SEPT. 16. 1900,;

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DOOR STRUCTURE.

No. scones.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 17, 1907.

Application'filed September 15,1906. Serial No. 334,773.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I VICTOR A. DE CANIO, a citizen of the U nitcd States, residing at Union Hill, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Doors and Door Structures; and I do herebydoclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it /appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to doors and door structures and especially to doors adapted to close a compartment substantially air-tight.

The device forming the subject matter of this invention while adapted broadly for application to doors of various structures, is especially adapted for use in asso ciation with doors of refrigerators and refrigerating chambers,and other doors to similar chambers intended andadapted to prevent the passage of heat from without or Within.

The object of the invention is to provide in a door structure, improved means for association with the door frame or casing for making an air tight joint.

A further object of the invention is to provide in a door frame or door casing improved means for association and engagement with a door as an auxiliary means i for preventing passage of heat.

With these and other objects in view, the invention comprises certain novel constructions, combinations,

and arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventionalized refrigerator with the improvement forming the subject matter of this invention in operative position thereon. Fig. 2 is a view in horizontal section of a fragment of a door and the adjacent door frame or casing and showing also in transverse section the improved device.

Like characters of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

While the device forming the subject matter of this invention is adapted for application to and association with doors and closures of various kinds and for various purposes, it is especially well adapted for use upon and association with doors of refrigerators and the 1ike,'such a refrigerator being shown conventionally as at 10, with a door 11 of substantially the usual proportion and structure, and inclosed by a frame or casingproportioned to engage with the periphery of the door. The door frame or casing surrounding the door proper, is preferably formed with its inner edge at an angle varying slightly from a vertical to the plane of the frame, as

shown at 12 and presenting al ng the inner side a greater angle to the perpendicular as at 13 forming a beveled ledge entirely around the opening with its plane disposed preferably at an oblique angle to the plane of the jainb. The fraine is also provided with a substantially plane portion, as at 14, against which the flange 15 about the periphery of the door ordinarily contacts. The door proper is so proportioned as to define a space, as at 16 between its outer edge and the beveled portion 12 of the jamb.

The plane portion 14 of the jamb is provided upon its exterior surface with a dovetailed groove 17 within which is disposed a normally cylindrical resilient pipe or tube 18,which may he of the! usual and ordinary rubber hose. The proportion of the hose to the dovetailed groove 17, is such that the hose normally and in the absence of pressure from the door extends slightly beyond the surface 14 of the jamb. The inner cornerpi the door is beveled as at 19 to form a surface substantial in parallelism with the surface 13 of the jamb when the dooris closed, and at an angle oblique to the plane of the door and the edge.

, The surface 19 is provided with a dovetailed groove 20 similar to the groove 17 and within which is disposed a similar flexible cylindrical tubing or hose 21 propor tioned to extend beyond the outer end of the dovetailed groove and positioned to contact with the surface 13 of the jamb.

The grooves 17 and 20' are formed with their larger or wider extent rearwardly or inwardly, so that the hose or flexible tubings disposed within the said grooves, are retained therein bytheresiliency of the said tubes, the faces engaging the beveled or tapered sides of the dovetailed grooves from which they may be removed to be replaced with new tubes as occasion may require, or for cleansing or other purposes. It will be understood that owing to the resiliency of the tubes 18 and 21, they may be inserted within the said grooves by exercising pressureiupon the sides thereof to contract them to a sufii-.

cient extent to permit their being slidably inserted through the smaller outer open end of the said grooves.

It will be seen especially from Fig. 2 that when the door 11 is in closed position, as therein represented, the

flexible tubes 18 and 21, are slightly contracted and de-- pressed at their outer sides by contact with the flange 15 of the door and the tapered ledge of the jamb. It will further be seen that between the flexible tubes 21 and 18, a space 16 is inclosed forming a dead air space, which 'is well'known to be a first-class non-conductor of heat. While the two tubings are each intended to produce an air-tight seal, it is obvious that owing to imperfections either one may fail to do so completely and the other is therefore an auxiliary means for closing the opening. It is further well known that owing to the contained moisture within refrigerators, the doors are subject to swelling if made of wood, as is usually the case, and that when they so swell. they bind with the jamb, and at other times the doors contract or shrink and leave spacefor the introduction of air, or the escape of the confined cooled air within the refrigerator.

By the use of a door formed with its outer end spaced away from a similar and parallel beveled portion 12 of the jamb, provision is made for shrinking and swelling of the door and the tubes 18 and 2l being resilient in nature compensate for any such shrinking and swelling as may occur and produce at all times air-tight, or substantiall y air-tight joints.

What I claim is:

1. In a door structure, a door frame having inclined sides defining a door opening, and a beveled shoulder entirely about the opening, an elastic packing carried upon the plane outer surface about the opening, a door proportioned to close within the opening and having an inclined side substantially parallel with and spaced from the inclined sides of the frame and having a beveled inner corner approximately parallel with and spaced from the beveled shoulder of the frame, an elastic packing carried by the door and extending fromthe beveled corner into position for engagement with the beveled shoulder, and a flange foymed about thc.periphery of the door larger than the door opening, and positioned to engage the elastic packing carried by the frame. I

2. In a door structure, a door frame having inclined sides defining a door opening, and a beveled shoulder entirely about the opening with a dovetailed groove extending entirely about the opening and formed in the plane outer surface of the frame, an elastic packing carried in the dove-tail groove and extending beyond the outer surface about the opening, a door proportioned to close within the opening and having an inclined side substantially parallel with and spaced from the inclined sides of the frame and having a beveled inner corner approximately parallel with and spaced from the beveled shoulder of the frame and with a dove-tail groove formed therein, an elastic packing carried within and extending beyond the dovetail groove, and into position for engagement with the beveled shoulder, and a flange formed about the periphery of the door larger than the door opening, and positioned toof the frame, and-having a beveled inner corner approxlmatel'y parallel with and spaced from the beveled shoulder of the frame and with a dovetail groove formed therein; an elastic packing carried by the dove-tail groove and extending beyond the beveled corner and into position for engagement with the beveled shoulder, and a flange formed about the periphery of the door larger than the door open ing, and positioned to engage the elastic packing carried by theframe and all so positioned that an air space is produced,bet\veen the two packings and between the sides of the door and the frame.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

VICTOR A.' DE CANIO.

Witnesses: H

HARRY K. LETTERMAN, ED ARD M. Pxr'rrson, Jr. 

